Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY
July 21, 2005
Volume 135, Number 399
Award-Winning
Newspaper
2005
Better Newspaper
Contest
Inside TODAY
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Strong medicine
The Panthers marked
their second day of foot
ball practice Tuesday at
the school. The team used
a medicine ball to teach
players to stay low.
Sports, page 1B
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Review of 'Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory'
Entertainment, page 8A
Happy BIRTHDAY!
Homer N. Childs
Betty Dawkins
Billy Franklin
Gary L. Hudgens
Itaska Joiner
Gary McCoy
Dennis Oliver
Marcus Privette
Jim Rosser
Ned Sanders
Megan Tinnin
Happy ANNIVERSARY!
Nannette and Kyle
Holder
Area DEATHS
James “Jim” Edward
Burrow
Shandon L. Soles Jr.
Julian Bryant Stevens
Obits, page 2A
INDEX
CLASSIFIED 4B
COMICS 7A
CROSSWORD 7A
ENTERTAINMENT .8A
OBITUARIES 2A
OPINION 4A
POLICE BEAT ... .5A
SPORTS 1B
SCHOOL NEWS .. .9A
TV LISTINGS 7A
WEATHER 2A
PERIODICAL
5
Georgia Newspaper Project
Man Library
UNIV OF GEORGIA
ATHENS GA 3G6G2-GOC2
ALL FOR ADC 301
JULY 21, 2005
Serving Houston County Since 1870
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* LEGAL ORGAN FOR HOUSTON COUNTY,
city of Perry, city of Warner Robins and city of Centerville
County millage up, but some to pay less
Chief: Budget constraints leave
fire department no room to grow
<Part one of two)
By RAY UGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
Houston County may cut its fire tax
rate for unincorporated areas.
The Board of Commissioners is prq
posing a cut in the fire tax rate from
I.76'mills to 1.3 mills.
“There needs to be a different for
mula to where the incidents are, to
spread out the costs more evenly,”
said Commission Chairman Ned
Sanders.
Sanders said the structures are pay
ing all the costs right now, but only
account for about 3.79 percent of the
department expenses. In a recent
meeting of the Warner Robins Rotary
Club, guest speaker Houston County
Fire Chief Jimmy Williams explained
WR hears
red-light
camera
proposal
Manufacturer says
system is effective
in reducing traffic
collisions, injuries
By TIMOTHY GRAHAM
HHJ Staff Writer
The Warner Robins City
Council held a special work
session on Tuesday to hear
a presentation from anoth
er company offering to
install cameras at local
intersections to stop red
light runners.
The council heard a pres
entation from Cherif
Elsadek, director of new
business development for
Redflex Traffic Systems of
Scottsdale, Ariz.
Elsadek told the council
that in 2002 there were
more than 200,000 acci
dents in the United States
attributed to red light viola
tors. These accidents result-
Hester to serve three years for deaths
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
Scott Glenn Hester, 43, 114
Johannes Square, Bonaire, has been
sentenced to 15 years, to serve three
with Department of Corrections, for
vehicular homicide in the December
deaths of a Warner Robins couple.
Hester, a sergeant with Air Force
Reserve Command, was jailed in
December on two counts of vehicular
homicide, as well as failure to main
tain lane, DUI, reckless driving and
Schools, system receive grants
By TERESA D. SOUTHERN
HHJ Staff Writer
In his report at the
monthly Houston County
Board of Education meet
ing, Superintendent Danny
Carpenter announced that
the school system has been
awarded grants totaling
over $2 million.
www.hhjnews.com
the fire tax is on improved land - land
with buildings.
Williams noted grass fires only
account for about 3 percent of the
department’s expenses.
“If you have 50 acres, we come out
and put out your grass fire for free.”
The Houston County Fire
Department is funded by the 1.76-mill
fire tax on improved land in unincor
porated areas of the county. The cities
each provide their own fire services so
their residents get a 1.76-mill reduc
tion on county tax bills.
“We cannot use the General Fund
for fires services,” Williams explained.
“That gets into the double taxation
rule.”
The fiscal year 2005 budget for the
county fire department was $1.4 mil-
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HHJ/Timothy (Jraham
Redflex representative Cherif Elsadek describes his product to a city council work
session Tuesday.
ed in 181,000 injuries and
921 fatalities.
He said that a system to
catch red light violators
would improve traffic safety
through law enforcement
and education of the public.
The system would reduce
the risk of intersection colli
sions between 50 and 70
percent, as well as free up
driving too fast for conditions in the
one-car wreck which killed Brian and
Sara McQueen of Warner Robins, and
injured the driver’s wife, Tina Hester.
The accident occurred about 1:11 a.m.
Dec. 19.
According to incident reports,
Hester was driving his 2003
Mitsubishi Lancer at a high rate of
speed on Van Drive, and ran through
a wooden fence at the end of the cul
de-sac. He then struck a concrete cul
vert and continued in an easterly
Northside High,
Northside Middle and
Thomson Middle schools
have been awarded a
Comprehensive School
Reform Grant for the next
three years.
The schools will receive
the following amounts:
• Northside High,
police officers for other pur
poses. The system need
only catch two violators per
day to pay for itself.
Redflex was begun in
1986 and the company has
more than 600 systems in
76 cities and 13 states. They
do their own manufactur
ing. The Redflex system
provides not only videos of
$695,000;
• Northside Middle
$708,000; and
• Thomson Middle
$450,000.
Also announced in
Tuesday’s meeting, the
school system has been
awarded $306,246 for the
2006 fiscal year to fund a
, . ■.—«- <jr’ - ■ ■ ——
HHJ Kay Lightner
Houston County Fire Chief Jimmy
Williams speaks to the Warner
Robins Rotary Club on Tuesday.
lion, with “next year’s budget about
the same,” Williams said, at around
$1.5 million.
The budget includes:
• salaries and benefits of about
$620,000 or about 42 percent;
See WILLIAMS, page 6A
the violation but also digital
still shots of the vehicle’s
license plate.
“There is minimal out-of
pocket costs and no finan
cial risk to the city,” said
Elsadek. “We provide all
hardware and software and
do all training.”
Elsadek said the only
See CAMERAS, page 5A
direction through an open field.
According to the report, the vehicle
rotated, became airborne and struck
an oak tree on the right side. The two
right-side, the McQueens, suffered
fatal injuries.
They were extricated from the vehi
cle and transported to Houston
Medical Center. Tina Hester was also
transported to Houston Medical
Center, where she was treated and
released.
Mathematics and Science
Partnership Program.
The Partnership Program
will provide professional
learning for county math
teachers through the math
departments of Macon
State College and Fort
Valley University.
See BOARD, page SA
TWO SECTIONS • 20 PAGES
Houston’s fire
tax to be cut for
some residents
By RAY LIGHTNER
HHJ Staff Writer
Houston County has pro
posed raising its tax rate,
but the result may be a
lower bill for some residents
in unincorporated areas.
Commission Chairman
Ned Sanders explained that
because of the decrease in
the county fire tax from 1.76
to 1.3 mills and the school
board lowering its tax rate
from 13.63 to 13.48 mills,
those in unincorporated
areas will end up with a
reduction in their millage
rate, by 0.07 mills from last
year.
See MILLAGE, page 3A
Wash
out!
Businesses spar
over proposed
Perry car wash
By MIKE GEORGE
HHJ Staff Writer
Tensions rose to the sur
face at a meeting of the
Perry City Council Tuesday
night, as neighboring busi
ness owners argued over the
proposed development of a
car wash near the Perry
Parkway.
The council voted unani
mously to deny a special
exception that would have
allowed Mike Powers and
Art Hall, who own Permac
Properties Inc., to build a
car wash at the intersection
of Wespark Drive and
Houston Lake Road in
Perry. A group of vocal oppo
nents argued that the car
wash would have caused a
number of problems in the
area, from generating
unwanted trash to creating
traffic problems and safety
issues.
Powers and Hall, who
already own a car wash and
a laundromat on Swift
Street in Perry, said they
spent $510,000 in March to
buy the 5.5 site. The two
men had planned to build
the car wash on a small lot
on the property.
The Perry Land
Development Ordinance
(PLDO) requires a special
exception from the Perry
Planning Commission and
the City Council to build a
car wash within a C-2 (gen
eral commercial) district,
which allows for a wide vari
ety of other commercial
developments.
In early June, the Perry
Planning Commission
unanimously denied the
partners’ request, saying
the building would not fit in
with surrounding offices
and small businesses.
J. Wayne Crowley, an
attorney with the Macon
firm of Bush, Crowley,
Leverett and Leggett who
represented Permac at the
meeting, sent the council an
18-page document July 13
that argued that the PLDO
violates Powers’ and Hall’s
constitutional right to due
process, when they were not
allowed to directly
See PERRY, page 3A
an Evans Family Newspaper
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